Kaliakoir Hi-tech park project likely to get stuck up in litigation

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Implementation of the Kaliakoir Hi-Tech Park, a top priority project of the government, may get stuck up in litigation because of the disagreement between the qualified responsive bidder and the executing agency, reports UNB.
Malaysian state-owned company Kulim Technology Park Corporation (KTPC), which qualified for the project as top ranking bidder with highest mark in the technical and financial evaluation, blamed the executing agency's "arbitrary decision" to split the park area and awarding contract to two developers instead of one putting aside the government's original plan.
KTPC termed such decision a "violation" of the Public Procurement Rule (PPR) 2008 and contrary to the original provisions of the tender document.
When contacted, NI Khan, Secretary of the ICT Ministry, which undertook the project to develop the Kaliakoir hi-tech park, however, was unwilling to make any comment on the issue. "I don't like to talk on the issue," he told the news agency over telephone.
Kaliakoir Hi-Tech Park Authority Managing Director Azizur Rahman also declined to make any comment on the issue over telephone.
According to IT sector sources, the KTPC is now contemplating to resolve the issue through state-level communication. But, if they fail, the KTPC will move the court to get remedy from 'any unfairness' by the executing agency, they said.
According to official sources, the executing agency - Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA) - invited a tender last year under the expression of interest (EoI) method to develop the hi-tech park on its 232 acres of land in Kaliakoir of Gazipur under the private sector's investment on design-build-finance-operate-own and transfer (DBFOOT) basis.
A number of interested international bidders participated in the EoI process. But the park authority short listed only seven of them and asked them to submit their final technical and financial proposals under the request for proposal (RFP) process.